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Rainshadow Charter School to close

Steven West, Principal of Rainshadow Charter School said the plan is to close the school. The school opened in 2003.

Here is a letter that went out to parents and families.

January 29, 2013

Dear Parents and/or Guardians,

I want to begin this letter with a heartfelt thank you for all the help and support you have given to your student. It makes a huge difference in their education and helps make our teachers more effective. We really appreciate your involvement!

As you are aware, we have an economy that has made getting along financially difficult for all but the very wealthy. As a school, we have had our share of struggles, too. Five years ago, due to state cuts in per pupil funding, all full time staff here took a 5% cut in pay. Because things have not gotten any better, no one has had a raise since then. Each year our expenses have gone up, but our income has not. We have reached a point where we cannot keep our budget in the black and the state will not fund us without a stable budget. Realizing this, our board of directors has voted to close the school effective June 2013 unless we have the money to sustain our budget. Next year’s projected shortfall will be about $200,000. We will continue to try to raise money, but with everyone else in the community in the same shape, raising money has been very difficult.

We are funded for this year, and we will honor our obligation to provide the very best education to your student that we can. I have encouraged our teachers and will encourage our students to stay focused on the present, and finish this year successfully regardless of what may happen in the future. We felt we needed to let everyone know in advance so that you can begin planning for next year with the very real possibility that Rainshadow will be no more.

We are having a Parent/Teacher Open House February 5th from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. In an effort to encourage parental involvement, we are not mailing report cards, but will ask that you come in and get them. We want to meet with you, get to know you better and answer any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you then.